About

$33,795

pledged of $27,500 goal

331

backers

We are developing Protei : a low-cost open-source oil collecting robot that autonomously sails upwind, intercepting oil sheens going downwind. Protei combines conventional technologies in an innovative design that we can implement in the short term to address timely environmental crisis such as the BP Oil Spill, cleaning the ocean gyre garbage patches or performing ocean research. We need your help to build our next prototype of Protei - the first articulated sailing boat that can tack upwind pulling a long heavy payload and initiating a revolutionary family in ocean robotics. http://protei.org

A situation we must change

Current Oil spill skimming technology was able to collect only 3% of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The health of remediation workers was compromised by exposure to cancerous toxic chemicals, skimming boats themselves contributed to pollution and were expensive to power, operations were constrained by daily weather conditions and were limited by proximity to the coast.
In contrast, Protei aims to be : unmanned, unrestrained by human biological needs; green and affordable; self-righting and therefore operable even in hurricane conditions; semi-autonomous, so that far offshore, many Protei would be able to intelligently and continuously swarm.

Observations and ideas from testing

Spilled oil moves downwind from its source following surface currents. Traditional oil skimmers pull oil-absorbent booms and trace random linear paths in a sea of oil. But a better way to capture this oil is to sail upwind, intercepting the oil sheens traveling downwind. Protei harnesses the wind in order to power an unmanned sailing drone, pulling a long oil-absorbent ‘tail’ upwind. A fleet of many Protei will work automatically as a swarm, or be remotely controlled by coastal residents and on-line gamers.

When you pull a long heavy object behind a traditional sailboat, the center of gravity is altered such that in order to preserve navigability it becomes necessary to redesign the relationship of hull, keel, and rudder. The solution we found is to design an entirely articulated sailing boat that curves when it tacks upwind. Building and testing consecutive prototypes with multiple sails, we soon realized that Protei's hull bending would expose both sides of the vessel to the wind when tacking upwind, continuously catching wind with the different sails, increasing power and control - and creating a totally new way of sailing!
We also found out that an inflatable body would make Protei featherweight for a very large sail surface : an excellent power ratio. Inflatable means also cheaper and collision-safe. Version after version, we keep improving the design and discovering new properties.

- Protei_006 : We need money to build our next prototype at full scale to measure the performances :
* how much oil can be absorbed.
* how much floating plastic debris we can collect from the ocean garbage patches.
* how much weight of scientific payload we can transport for ocean studies and exploration.
This next prototype will be packed with electronics and sensors: micro-controllers, GPS, long range wireless communication, solar panel, wind turbine, accelerometers, anemometer, pressure gauges, batteries, servo/step motors, winches etc. Many of us will gather 3 months this summer in Rotterdam (Netherlands) to build our next prototype and publish the full online documentation so others can build their own versions too.

Deploy

Oil spills are happening all the time across the world. In many of these locations, access to effective yet inexpensive remediation technology is lacking. Thus, Protei is Open Hardware so anyone can use, modify, and distribute Protei. Currently Protei is being developed as a team effort by Open_Sailing in the UK and France, V2_ in the Netherlands, randomwalks in South Korea, Amorphica in the US and Mexico and contributors from all around the world. If you cannot back us, you can work with us :)

Protei is the plural for Proteus, Greek sea-god and son of Poseidon. Proteus was known for his mutability, his capability of assuming many forms. The word protean evokes flexibility, versatility and adaptability. The machine we are developing now is Protei for collecting spilled oil at sea, but being an open source project, other versions may be designed in the future for other purposes : to harvest the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, to capture heavy metal pollutants in coastal areas, extract toxic contaminants from urban waterways, perform oceanographic research, monitor marine life etc.

We hope that developing Protei Open Hardware will contribute to ocean studies and pollution remediation.
Help us build our next prototype. Thank you!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $275 or more
About $275

We send you the raw materials to build your own remotely controlled 1m (3.2ft) long, articulated, inflatable Protei. The design and functionalities would be similar to the one of
Protei002 (http://goo.gl/dWG7p).
You will need good DIY skills and your own power tools to build Protei from the raw materials.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $400 or more
About $400

We send you a remotely controlled 1m (3.2ft) long, articulated, inflatable Protei in KIT to assemble yourself. The design and functionalities would be similar to the one of Protei002 (http://goo.gl/dWG7p).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $900 or more
About $900

We send you a fully assembled remotely controlled 1m (3.2ft) long, articulated, inflatable Protei that is ready to sail! Batteries included :) + We add you as "editor" on Protei.org + you get a yourname@protei.org.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $2,000 or more
About $2,000

You get to be in the first group of beta-sailors to control the first full-scale Protei from the web interface + We send you a remotely controlled 1m (3.2ft) long, articulated, inflatable Protei in KIT.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $3,500 or more
About $3,500

If you are in the Netherlands, we invite you to sail the first full-scale Protei Prototype from the shore with a remote control + We send you a remotely controlled 1m (3.2ft) long, articulated, inflatable Protei in KIT.